The Hawaii Loa ridge hike is the most classy hike I've ever
been on! To start, it's on the top of Hawaii Loa ridge! You can even take your
Mercedes Benz hiking and not worry about it being messed with! The trailhead is a
nice and very well kept park above the million dollar homes. They even have a large
boot-brush mat to clean your boots!As for this being a hike for rich people though,
they have to be in-shape rich people! The hike starts with numerous hills populated
with endless stands of strawberry guava trees. It seems like you're in those forever
but when you eventually hit the open ridge, it's well worth the pain early on.
Once you break out into the open, the rest is a breeze. There are a few steep
inclines but there are stairs put in all those sections. The view from the top is
similar to that of Wiliwili Nui only it's not as nice a place to have a seat and enjoy
your lunch. It's pretty overgrown, but seems like people have been starting to clear
a lot of it away. From the top you can head left for a short jaunt to Wiliwili Nui,
or head right for a somewhat longer summit walk to Pu'u O'kona (a few more steep
sections). We headed left for awhile until it got a bit too overgrown. Still,
these summit walks are really cool without being dangerous.
Date: June, 1998
Time Duration: 3hours
Difficulty: Blue (those initial hills are killer!)
Danger: Green
Notes: The first part of this hike is brutal! As far as I remember, it was
just as bad if not worse than the beginning section of Lanipo! I guess especially
since I like to power through steep uphill sections, I was hurting by the time we got
back!
